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1983 – Research Comes First

Hamid Moghadam and Doug Abbey brought a research approach to the real estate industry when they founded their firm in 1983.

When Bob Burke joined the team in 1984, the firm rebranded itself as AMB Investments, Inc., representing the three founders’ last names.

After a punishing recession, glimpses of daylight began appearing on the real estate horizon. Inflation slowed and the economy sputtered back to life. It was precisely the whisper of confidence needed for San Francisco businessmen Hamid Moghadam and Douglas Abbey to leave their real estate consulting positions and open up their own firm—an innovative venture that established many of the enduring principles that remain hallmarks of the company to this day.

Both men arrived at their positions via circuitous routes. After earning his MBA from Stanford in 1980, Moghadam, an Iranian-born MIT grad, whose first job was working as a part-time employee at Homestake Mining Company. Abbey taught elementary school in the Bronx and was a standout at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a master’s degree in city planning. Both men’s work caught the attention of business professor John McMahan, who recruited the pair as consultants for his firm, John McMahan & Associates.

At a time when the commercial real estate industry was rife with questionable practices, McMahan offered something unique: professional real estate consulting services. McMahan’s firm offered expert advice for a fee, not unlike a trusted lawyer or accountant.

Inspired by the idea of a firm that focused on satisfying the needs of clients, the pair left McMahan to start their own company.

Exceeding industry expectations, the team supplied clients with richly researched reports that went beyond simple rental advice into hard data on urban trends and demographic shifts, providing context for every piece of real estate advice they offered.

“We were always thinking about how we could help clients and not necessarily how we could make money,” Moghadam said. “We did OK in the making-money department, but I think it was really by serving customers well. And research was an important part of it.”

“You need a good piece of real estate on the right corner with the right tenants,” Abbey said. “Yes, that’s all interesting, but you really need to step back and think: Where is the city? What kind of property types are you going to invest in—or not—and why? That was a very valuable tool that from the very beginning was instrumental, I think, to our success.”

The firm’s work led to larger transactional service contracts, including negotiating new leases and dispossessing old ones. And in 1984, the team forged a strong connection with a lawyer named Bob Burke, the managing partner of one of its clients, and asked him to join the firm as a partner.

Burke, who had much-needed experience in attracting capital from institutional investors, accepted the offer. Combining the first initials of their surnames, the group rebranded their firm AMB Investments, Inc., a Prologis legacy company, and moved into a small office near the current headquarters at Pier One. The three partners were confident that the unique mix of research, real estate knowledge and investment experience rendered the firm capable of offering advice to any client that came its way.